ESTERO, Fla. - Florida Everblades General Manager Craig Brush, along with Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach Brad Ralph, announced today the signing of defenseman Hank Sorensen and forward Brendan van Riemsdyk for the 2022-23 season.
Sorensen, 24, joins the Everblades after playing in seven games with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays last season, recording one assist and 16 penalty minutes.
The Wayzata, Minnesota native played two seasons of collegiate hockey at Northern Michigan University, tallying four goals and 12 assists in 52 games for the Wildcats across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
Prior to his collegiate career, Sorensen played for the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League from 2016 to 2019. Sorensen tallied 17 goals and 65 assists in 151 regular season games with the Black Hawks. In the postseason, he tallied one goal and three assists in 20 games.
Van Riemsdyk, 26, comes to the 'Blades after spending the 2021-22 season with the Reading Royals and the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL. After appearing in one game with the Royals, the Middletown, New Jersey native collected 12 points on six goals and six assists in 36 games with the Thunder.
Van Riemsdyk comes to Southwest Florida after completing a four-year collegiate career at the University of New Hampshire (2016-19) and Northeastern University (2019-20). At UNH, van Riemsdyk tallied 20 goals and 24 assists in 111 games. During his one season at Northeastern, he tallied two goals and four assists in 33 games.
A teammate of Everblade Zach Solow with the Huskies, van Riemsdyk was named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team after the 2019-20 season.
In his first professional season in 2020-21, van Riemsdyk played for the Knoxville Ice Bears of the Southern Professional Hockey League. In 16 games, he registered 11 points on five goals and six assists. He is the younger brother of Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk and Washington Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Highlighted by the raising of the 2022 Kelly Cup Championship banner, the Everblades 25th Anniversary home opener is Saturday, October 29 at 7:00pm against the Jacksonville Icemen at Hertz Arena.
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